Italy finds 25 dead on refugee boat
Source: Agencies |
August 2, 2011, Tuesday
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THE Italian coastguard yesterday found the bodies of 25 men apparently asphyxiated by engine fumes on a small boat crammed with African migrants from Libya.
The boat arrived at the Sicilian island of Lampedusa after a three-day voyage carrying 296 people from sub-Saharan Africa, the latest in a wave of arrivals since a western alliance began a military campaign to oust Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
Most of the migrants were from Somalia, Nigeria or Ghana, according to the charity Save the Children, which spoke to the survivors. Those on board included 36 women and 21 children. Some babies are just a few months old, the charity said.
It added: "From our initial chat with them, the impression is of people who have been tested and shocked by what has happened. The dead include their friends and acquaintances.
"Some of the migrants told us that bombardment made it increasingly difficult to stay in Libya, as well as to leave and reach the ports."
Hundreds of people have drowned attempting the dangerous crossing from north Africa to Lampedusa, a tiny island off the southern coast of Sicily, as the fighting in Libya has brought down previously strict border controls.
The latest victims were squeezed into the hold of the boat and were already dead when it pulled into harbour with the aid of coastguard vessels, which came to the boat's rescue some 55 kilometers offshore, according to Italian authorities.
They said others on the boat claim the men died from asphyxiation, but a formal cause of death has yet to be established. Some people on the boat said another man died during the voyage and his body was dropped overboard.
It is likely the men had been dead for 48 hours judging from the condition in which they were found, a local medic, Pietro Bartolo, told the Ansa news agency.
Local prosecutors have opened an investigation to see whether any criminal responsibility can be established under laws against aiding clandestine immigration.
Lampedusa, whose inhabitants normally make a living from tourism and fishing, has found itself on the front line of a growing immigration crisis as tens of thousands have arrived from Tunisia and Libya since the beginning of the year.
Libya has long been a popular point from which African migrants have attempted to cross into Europe.
A deal between Gadhafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government to send migrants back before they enter Italian waters succeeded in curbing the flow of migrants until the uprising against Gadhafi began this year.
The UN refugee agency has said one in 10 migrants fleeing conflict in Libya by sea is likely to drown or die from hunger or exhaustion during the crossing.
The boat arrived at the Sicilian island of Lampedusa after a three-day voyage carrying 296 people from sub-Saharan Africa, the latest in a wave of arrivals since a western alliance began a military campaign to oust Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
Most of the migrants were from Somalia, Nigeria or Ghana, according to the charity Save the Children, which spoke to the survivors. Those on board included 36 women and 21 children. Some babies are just a few months old, the charity said.
It added: "From our initial chat with them, the impression is of people who have been tested and shocked by what has happened. The dead include their friends and acquaintances.
"Some of the migrants told us that bombardment made it increasingly difficult to stay in Libya, as well as to leave and reach the ports."
Hundreds of people have drowned attempting the dangerous crossing from north Africa to Lampedusa, a tiny island off the southern coast of Sicily, as the fighting in Libya has brought down previously strict border controls.
The latest victims were squeezed into the hold of the boat and were already dead when it pulled into harbour with the aid of coastguard vessels, which came to the boat's rescue some 55 kilometers offshore, according to Italian authorities.
They said others on the boat claim the men died from asphyxiation, but a formal cause of death has yet to be established. Some people on the boat said another man died during the voyage and his body was dropped overboard.
It is likely the men had been dead for 48 hours judging from the condition in which they were found, a local medic, Pietro Bartolo, told the Ansa news agency.
Local prosecutors have opened an investigation to see whether any criminal responsibility can be established under laws against aiding clandestine immigration.
Lampedusa, whose inhabitants normally make a living from tourism and fishing, has found itself on the front line of a growing immigration crisis as tens of thousands have arrived from Tunisia and Libya since the beginning of the year.
Libya has long been a popular point from which African migrants have attempted to cross into Europe.
A deal between Gadhafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government to send migrants back before they enter Italian waters succeeded in curbing the flow of migrants until the uprising against Gadhafi began this year.
The UN refugee agency has said one in 10 migrants fleeing conflict in Libya by sea is likely to drown or die from hunger or exhaustion during the crossing.
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